rhind



2 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

F. RHIND.

LAMP EXTINGUISHER.

Patented Oct. 2, 1888.

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N. PETERS, Pholo-Limugnphur, Washington. D. C.

(No Model.) l 2 SheetsA-Sheet 2.

' P. RHIND'.

LAMP EXTINGUISHER.

No. 390,254. Patented Oct. 2, 1888;

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

FRANK RHIND, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EDWVARD MILLER 8: COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

LAMP-EXTINGUISHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 390,254, dated @ctober 2, 1888,

Application filed June 4, 1887. Serial No. 240,247. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK RHIND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Meriden, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut,

have invented an Improvement in Lamp'Extinguishers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of lam p extinguishers which havea floatconnected with of air from the flame, and is intended to produce this result by lowering the wick below the top of the wick-tube.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel represents in perspective a lamp provided with my device,partly broken away to show the interior mechanism; Fig. 2, a modification of my device, the sides and bottom of the fount and the wick being omitted.

A designates a lamp fount or body; B, a float supported by the oil in the fount; b, a rod or wire attached to the float B; C, aguide which serves to limit the horizontal motion of the float B; D, a lever capable of being moved vertically by the rod 1); d, a fulcrum or standard supporting the lever D; d, a spring bearing against the end of the lever D; E, a shaft by means of which the wick of the lamp is raised or lowered; e, a ratchet rigidly fastened to the shaft E; e, a spring, one end of which is attached to the shaft E, and which tends to rotate the shaft E in such a direction as to lower the wick of the lamp; 0, a button or thumb-piece; e, a cog or star wheel engaging in the wick or wick-carrier of the lamp, both attached to the shaft E; F, a wick; f, a wickcarrier, both of which are here shown as of tubular form and supported between the usual concentric wick-tubes; f, a draw-bar or vertical rod attached to or forming part of the wick-carrier f.

I will now describe the form of construction shown in Fig. 1.

In the fount A,before itis finished,the float B 5 is placed, with a rod or wire, I), firmly attached to the float B, passing through the top of the fount A.

The float B may be of any convenient size or form; but I prefer to make it annular in shape, surrounding the wick, and of an exterior diameter approximating to that of the fount A.

suitable mechanism for cutting off the supply By this arrangement the greatest stability is combined with sufficient buoyancy. The float B is guided against horizontal motion by the perforated sleeve or guide C, is capable of free vertical motion, is sufficiently buoyant to be supported by the oil in the fount A, and is heavy enough to carry with it in its descent one end of the lever D. The other end of the lever l) engages as a pawl with the teeth of the ratchet e on the shaft E. This shaft E is also provided with a button, 6, and a cog-wheel, e', engagingin the wick-carrierf. The spring e is attached at its inner end to the top of the fount A, and at its outer end may be attached to the shaft E, but is preferably arranged to engage in the teeth of the ratchet e, so that it may be detached and the wick raised as it is consumed without increasing the tension of the spring 6. The fountAbeing filled with oil,so as to support the float B and to lift the rod b out of contact with the lever D, the wick F and carrier f are so arranged with reference to the shaft E and the parts connected thereto as to bring considerable tension upon the spring I 6 when the wick F is raised above the wicktubes. The pawl at the end of the lever D is then engaged with the ratchet 0, thereby pre venting the rotation of the shaft E in such a direction as to lower the wick F. As the oil is consumed the float B sinks, carrying down with it the rod 1). Vhen the rod 1) depresses the free end of the lever D, the pawl at its other end is released from contact with the ratchet e, and by the action of the spring 6' the shaft E is suddenly rotated, the wick F rap idly lowered, and the light extinguished.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. 2 the draw-bar or vertical rod j" is attached to the wick-carrying sleeve f, so as to pass up through the top of the fount A. This draw-bar f is provided with a rack, into which the teeth of the cog e mesh. The operation of lower ing the wick, and thereby extinguishing the flame, is performed by substantially the same mechanism as that above described. It will loosened by the lowering of the rod 1), attached to the float B. If the pawl is given a sufficient rake or bevel, the spring d may be omitted.

It is obvious that my device may be applied to a flat-wick burner, and that other mechanical changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, which I eonceive to be a lowering of the wick below the top ofits surrounding wallsby mechanism such as a spring held in check by a device connected with a float in the oil until the oil shall have been consumed to a predetermined point.

I am aware that extinguishing deviceshave heretofore been made, in some of which caps have been used to cover the wiek-tube and cut off the supply of air from the flame. I am not, however, advised that any form of extinguisher has heretofore been made in which the wick is automatically lowered below the top of the surrounding wick-tube b'y mechanism connected with a float supported by the oil in the lamp. 7

I am also advised thata lamp-extinguishing device has been patented in which a weight.

has been connected by means of a chain with a wick-adjusting shaft, so that in case of the accidental overturning of the lamp the wick may be lowered below the top of the wick tube. I do notwish to be understood as claiming such device as any part of my invention.

I am further advised that a patent has been granted for a car-lamp extinguisher in which a spring-actuated shaft is used in connection with buffet-plates without the car and adapted to strike together in case of a collision, thereby releasing a detent. I desire to be understood as claiming a spring-actuated wick-lowering shaft only in combination with a float supported by the oil in the fount.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. In an extinguishing device, the combination of an oil-fount, a float in said fount, a spring-actuated device adapted to lower the wick below the top of the surrounding wicktube, and a detent connected with said float and engaging said wick-lowering device, substantially as described.

2. In an extinguishing device, the combination ofan oilfount-,afloat in said fount, a rod connected to said float, a detent-lever engaging said rod by one end and a ratchet by the other, a spring-actuated shaft, on which said ratchet is mounted, and a cogwheel, also mounted on said shaft and engaging with a wick or wick-carrier,by means of which the wick may be lowered below the top of the surrounding tube, substantially as described.

FRANK RHIND.

Vitncsses:

G'Eo. L. COOPER, S. J. RoBY. 

